WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:05.019 So picture this, it's 2008. And one of the most 00:00:05.019 --> 00:00:08.080 successful pioneering hip hop artists on the 00:00:08.080 --> 00:00:11.279 planet is getting ready to drop a highly anticipated 00:00:11.279 --> 00:00:14.179 solo rap album. Right, the pressure is on. Exactly. 00:00:14.679 --> 00:00:17.379 So how does he prepare? Well, he decides the 00:00:17.379 --> 00:00:20.379 absolute best use of his time is to direct a 00:00:20.379 --> 00:00:22.699 ballet. which is just wild to think about. I 00:00:22.699 --> 00:00:24.800 mean, a full theatrical production. We're talking 00:00:24.800 --> 00:00:27.660 tutus, ballerinas gracefully leaping across the 00:00:27.660 --> 00:00:31.199 stage. Yeah. But all of it set to a live funk 00:00:31.199 --> 00:00:34.280 band and the chest rattling boom of an 808 drum 00:00:34.280 --> 00:00:36.960 machine. It's arguably one of the most unexpected 00:00:36.960 --> 00:00:40.020 pivots in modern music history. For sure. And, 00:00:40.060 --> 00:00:42.200 you know, what makes it so incredible is that 00:00:42.200 --> 00:00:45.299 this wasn't a joke or some PR stunt. It was a 00:00:45.299 --> 00:00:47.780 deeply serious artistic statement. Yeah, from 00:00:47.780 --> 00:00:50.039 a musician who realized his vision had completely 00:00:50.039 --> 00:00:52.359 outgrown the standard industry assembly line. 00:00:52.740 --> 00:00:54.520 Exactly. Okay, let's unpack this. We've got a 00:00:54.520 --> 00:00:57.359 massive stack of sources today detailing a real 00:00:57.359 --> 00:01:00.000 modern music industry legend. A total showdown. 00:01:00.259 --> 00:01:02.820 Right. Our mission for this deep dive, and we're 00:01:02.820 --> 00:01:05.079 taking you along for the ride here, is to explore 00:01:05.079 --> 00:01:08.359 what happens when an unstoppable creative force 00:01:08.359 --> 00:01:11.359 meets an unyielding, terrified corporate machine. 00:01:11.459 --> 00:01:14.379 It gets messy. Very. We are going to figure out 00:01:14.379 --> 00:01:17.680 how Big Boy, you know, one half of the legendary 00:01:17.680 --> 00:01:20.180 hip hop duo outcast fought tooth and nail for 00:01:20.180 --> 00:01:22.959 his artistic integrity. And ultimately delivered 00:01:22.959 --> 00:01:26.359 an undisputed genre -bending classic. Yes. His 00:01:26.359 --> 00:01:29.319 2010 solo debut album, Sir Lucius Left Foot. 00:01:29.599 --> 00:01:32.519 the son of Chico Dusty. What's fascinating here 00:01:32.519 --> 00:01:35.540 is that this isn't just a story about a rapper 00:01:35.540 --> 00:01:37.620 going into a studio and making some beats. No, 00:01:37.620 --> 00:01:40.239 not at all. It is a profound look at the clash 00:01:40.239 --> 00:01:43.780 between commercial expectations, basically what 00:01:43.780 --> 00:01:45.760 a data -driven record label thinks the public 00:01:45.760 --> 00:01:48.760 wants, and genuine artistic maturity. Right. 00:01:48.890 --> 00:01:51.230 It's about an artist who just flat out refused 00:01:51.230 --> 00:01:54.170 to regress or copy a trend just to make a quick 00:01:54.170 --> 00:01:56.790 buck for a corporation. Exactly. But to really 00:01:56.790 --> 00:01:58.650 understand the states of this battle, we have 00:01:58.650 --> 00:02:01.489 to look at where Big Boy was mentally and professionally 00:02:01.489 --> 00:02:05.209 post 2006. That's a crucial year. Yeah, because 00:02:05.209 --> 00:02:07.150 Outkast had just released their Prohibition -era 00:02:07.150 --> 00:02:10.139 movie Idlewild. Right. And the accompanying soundtrack 00:02:10.139 --> 00:02:12.960 album. Right. And the reception from both critics 00:02:12.960 --> 00:02:16.240 and audiences was, well, it was lukewarm. Which 00:02:16.240 --> 00:02:18.020 was completely uncharted territory for them. 00:02:18.060 --> 00:02:19.780 Yeah, they weren't used to that. Not at all. 00:02:20.259 --> 00:02:23.219 Up until that point, from the early 90s all the 00:02:23.219 --> 00:02:25.360 way through the massive diamond -selling success 00:02:25.360 --> 00:02:28.580 of Speakerbox X to The Love Below, I mean... 00:02:28.409 --> 00:02:31.370 almost everything Outkast touched turned to gold. 00:02:31.569 --> 00:02:33.689 They literally defined the sound of the South. 00:02:33.830 --> 00:02:36.770 They did. So amid all these swirling tabloid 00:02:36.770 --> 00:02:39.030 rumors that they were breaking up, Big Boy and 00:02:39.030 --> 00:02:42.090 Andre 3000 announced they were just going on 00:02:42.090 --> 00:02:45.090 a hiatus as a duo. Just taking a break. Yeah, 00:02:45.169 --> 00:02:47.409 the plan was totally logical to them. Focus on 00:02:47.409 --> 00:02:49.870 their solo careers, release their album separately, 00:02:49.889 --> 00:02:52.569 and then eventually reconvene. Sounds reasonable 00:02:52.569 --> 00:02:56.099 to me. Right. But their label, Jive Records, 00:02:56.280 --> 00:02:58.439 which had recently absorbed their original label, 00:02:58.599 --> 00:03:00.639 Arista Jive, was having absolutely none of it. 00:03:00.900 --> 00:03:03.259 Oh, they hated the idea. Yeah, Jive was putting 00:03:03.259 --> 00:03:05.939 massive pressure on them to just scrap the solo 00:03:05.939 --> 00:03:08.520 ambitions, get back in the studio together, and 00:03:08.520 --> 00:03:11.080 churn out another Outkast album. Because Jive 00:03:11.080 --> 00:03:13.800 was looking purely at the bottom line. Always 00:03:13.800 --> 00:03:16.960 the bottom line. You have to remember, Outkast 00:03:16.960 --> 00:03:20.000 as a brand was a proven global commodity. Right. 00:03:20.199 --> 00:03:23.740 Solo albums even from the individual genius members 00:03:23.740 --> 00:03:27.000 of outcast were perceived as a massive financial 00:03:27.000 --> 00:03:29.939 risk by a major label They didn't want big boy. 00:03:30.139 --> 00:03:32.800 They wanted the outcast machine. It's kind of 00:03:32.800 --> 00:03:37.300 like Having a legendary star athlete on your 00:03:37.300 --> 00:03:40.039 basketball team, right? Okay Yeah, and the coach 00:03:40.039 --> 00:03:42.639 is practically screaming from the sidelines to 00:03:42.639 --> 00:03:45.120 just run the exact same pick and roll play that 00:03:45.120 --> 00:03:47.400 won the championship last year Just run the play. 00:03:47.400 --> 00:03:51.280 Yes, but instead that star athlete decides, actually 00:03:51.280 --> 00:03:54.240 no, I'm gonna go do a Vanguard theater for a 00:03:54.240 --> 00:03:57.060 while. That is a brilliant way to frame it, especially 00:03:57.060 --> 00:03:59.099 considering what Big Boy actually did during 00:03:59.099 --> 00:04:01.879 this hiatus. Right? Because he completely refused 00:04:01.879 --> 00:04:04.560 to bend to Jive's demands. He started acting. 00:04:04.719 --> 00:04:06.900 He was in ATL, right? Yeah, taking a supporting 00:04:06.900 --> 00:04:09.000 role as a drug dealer in ATL, and then a lead 00:04:09.000 --> 00:04:11.960 role in the comedy Who's Your Caddy? Oh, yeah. 00:04:12.300 --> 00:04:15.039 But his creative hunger was pushing him even 00:04:15.039 --> 00:04:17.199 further outside the box. Which brings us back 00:04:17.199 --> 00:04:18.959 to that wild image from the beginning of our 00:04:18.959 --> 00:04:21.920 deep dive, the ballet. Right, the ballet. I mean, 00:04:22.060 --> 00:04:24.839 how did that even happen? In 2007, he was approached 00:04:24.839 --> 00:04:27.339 by John McFall, who was the artistic director 00:04:27.339 --> 00:04:31.079 of the Atlanta Ballet. OK. And they collaborated 00:04:31.079 --> 00:04:34.060 on a massive production in 2008, simply titled 00:04:34.060 --> 00:04:37.680 Big. And Big Boy wasn't just slapping his name 00:04:37.680 --> 00:04:40.079 on the poster as a figurehead. He was actually 00:04:40.079 --> 00:04:42.060 involved. Heavily involved. He was the creative 00:04:42.060 --> 00:04:44.519 director. He recruited the live band members 00:04:44.519 --> 00:04:47.160 from his Purple Ribbon label. He developed the 00:04:47.160 --> 00:04:51.420 overarching storyline. Wow. And he worked intimately 00:04:51.420 --> 00:04:54.360 with the choreographer, Laurie Stallings. The 00:04:54.360 --> 00:04:56.319 imagery described in the sources we went through 00:04:56.319 --> 00:04:58.920 is just incredible. You have guest vocal performances 00:04:58.920 --> 00:05:02.019 by Janelle Mona and Sleepy Brown. Right. You 00:05:02.019 --> 00:05:05.139 have these complex syncopated dance sequences 00:05:05.139 --> 00:05:08.060 where classically trained ballerinas are dancing 00:05:08.060 --> 00:05:11.120 to massive outcast hits. They mist up too? Exactly. 00:05:11.439 --> 00:05:14.180 Alongside brand new highly experimental tracks 00:05:14.180 --> 00:05:16.500 that Big Boy was actively developing for this 00:05:16.500 --> 00:05:19.399 solo album. Yeah. It ran for six performances 00:05:19.399 --> 00:05:22.819 at the Fox Theater in Atlanta and generated amazing 00:05:22.819 --> 00:05:26.639 buzz. And, you know, that ballet detour is absolutely 00:05:26.639 --> 00:05:29.379 crucial to understanding the album we're digging 00:05:29.379 --> 00:05:32.279 into today. How so? Well, it proves just how 00:05:32.279 --> 00:05:34.980 expansive Big Boy's creative vision had become. 00:05:35.459 --> 00:05:37.500 He wasn't thinking about standard three minute 00:05:37.500 --> 00:05:39.740 radio singles anymore. He was thinking bigger. 00:05:40.120 --> 00:05:43.279 Much bigger. He was thinking about grand theatricality, 00:05:43.800 --> 00:05:47.319 live instrumentation. Total cross -genre collaboration. 00:05:47.600 --> 00:05:49.740 But I'm guessing it was exactly this out -of 00:05:49.740 --> 00:05:52.620 -the -box, highly theatrical thinking that put 00:05:52.620 --> 00:05:55.139 him on a direct collision course with Jive Records. 00:05:55.220 --> 00:05:58.180 Oh, 100%. Because Jive wasn't in the business 00:05:58.180 --> 00:06:01.480 of selling ballets. They wanted a standard, easily 00:06:01.480 --> 00:06:04.899 digestible rap album. Which brings us to the 00:06:04.899 --> 00:06:07.439 breaking point. The ultimatum. Yes, the label 00:06:07.439 --> 00:06:09.959 gives Big Boy an ultimatum. And reading this 00:06:09.959 --> 00:06:12.360 in the sources, I mean, the audacity is just 00:06:12.360 --> 00:06:14.540 staggering. It really is. They essentially tell 00:06:14.540 --> 00:06:17.220 Big Boy to go into the studio and make his own 00:06:17.220 --> 00:06:20.160 version of Lil Wayne's massive auto -tune heavy 00:06:20.160 --> 00:06:23.339 hit song, Lollipop. They wanted a replica, literally 00:06:23.339 --> 00:06:25.540 a carbon copy of what was already working for 00:06:25.540 --> 00:06:27.620 someone else. Wait, hold on. You're telling me 00:06:27.620 --> 00:06:30.660 a major label looked at an established, genre 00:06:30.660 --> 00:06:33.379 -defining pioneer? Yeah. A guy who practically 00:06:33.379 --> 00:06:35.800 invented the sound of modern Southern hip -hop 00:06:35.800 --> 00:06:38.220 and told him to just bite another MC's style. 00:06:38.319 --> 00:06:40.319 That's exactly what happened. How does that make 00:06:40.319 --> 00:06:43.980 any economic or artistic sense at all? Well if 00:06:43.980 --> 00:06:45.959 we connect this to the bigger picture of the 00:06:45.959 --> 00:06:51.120 music industry around say 2008 to 2010 it makes 00:06:51.120 --> 00:06:54.300 perfect terrifying scents from a corporate perspective. 00:06:54.540 --> 00:06:56.899 Okay, explain that to me. This was the peak of 00:06:56.899 --> 00:07:00.899 the ringtone rap era. Piracy, the lingering hangover 00:07:00.899 --> 00:07:04.199 from Napster and Linewire, was still just cannibalizing 00:07:04.199 --> 00:07:06.420 physical album sales. Right, nobody was buying 00:07:06.420 --> 00:07:09.000 CDs anymore. Exactly, major labels were absolutely 00:07:09.000 --> 00:07:11.379 terrified. Because they were losing so much money, 00:07:11.420 --> 00:07:14.300 they became entirely risk averse and hyper -focused 00:07:14.300 --> 00:07:16.540 on data. So they just wanted a sure thing. Yes. 00:07:16.910 --> 00:07:19.769 Lollipop was a proven data -driven smash hit 00:07:19.769 --> 00:07:22.629 that sold millions of ringtones and digital downloads. 00:07:23.050 --> 00:07:24.930 I see. So they didn't care about pushing the 00:07:24.930 --> 00:07:26.910 genre forward? Not at all. They just wanted the 00:07:26.910 --> 00:07:28.769 algorithm that produced cash right that second. 00:07:29.449 --> 00:07:33.709 Exactly. Big Boy explicitly stated that he viewed 00:07:33.709 --> 00:07:36.850 his upcoming album as a piece of art. Naturally. 00:07:37.189 --> 00:07:39.810 But the label viewed music purely as an algorithm 00:07:39.810 --> 00:07:42.879 for radio -friendly hits. They felt his intended 00:07:42.879 --> 00:07:46.019 singles were too complex, too weird, just not 00:07:46.019 --> 00:07:48.000 commercial enough. They literally didn't know 00:07:48.000 --> 00:07:50.160 how to market art. Right. They only knew how 00:07:50.160 --> 00:07:53.019 to market current trends. Well, Big Boy saw this 00:07:53.019 --> 00:07:54.879 as the highest form of disrespect. I mean, he 00:07:54.879 --> 00:07:56.279 literally said to them, how are you going to 00:07:56.279 --> 00:07:58.379 tell me to go bite another emcee's style? Yeah, 00:07:58.399 --> 00:08:01.860 he was furious. So he defies them entirely. He 00:08:01.860 --> 00:08:04.420 takes his music, specifically a wildly funky 00:08:04.420 --> 00:08:07.699 track called Foyo Sorrows. Great track. So good. 00:08:07.939 --> 00:08:10.279 And he flies to Los Angeles to play it for L 00:08:10.279 --> 00:08:13.310 .A. Reid over at Island Def Jam. Now, for some 00:08:13.310 --> 00:08:15.589 context for you listening, L .A. Reid is the 00:08:15.589 --> 00:08:18.550 legendary executive who originally signed outcasts 00:08:18.550 --> 00:08:21.370 to LaFace Records way back in 1992. Right, back 00:08:21.370 --> 00:08:23.829 when they were just teenagers. Yeah. And Reid, 00:08:24.009 --> 00:08:26.250 being an actual music guy and not just the spreadsheet 00:08:26.250 --> 00:08:29.129 guy, he immediately gets it. He hears the vision. 00:08:29.589 --> 00:08:32.690 Exactly. So after two months of intense legal 00:08:32.690 --> 00:08:36.169 negotiations, Big Boy officially leaves Jive 00:08:36.169 --> 00:08:39.250 and signs a fresh three -album deal with Def 00:08:39.250 --> 00:08:42.250 Jam in March 2010. But Jive allowed him to leave, 00:08:42.350 --> 00:08:44.649 right? Like, it sounds like a clean break. Well, 00:08:44.669 --> 00:08:46.830 they allowed him to leave as a solo artist, yes. 00:08:47.330 --> 00:08:48.690 But they definitely weren't going to make it 00:08:48.690 --> 00:08:50.370 easy. Oh, well, of course not. Because while 00:08:50.370 --> 00:08:54.129 Big Boy left, Outkast as a group was still contractually 00:08:54.129 --> 00:08:57.990 bound to Jive. Oh, wow. So Jive retaliates. The 00:08:57.990 --> 00:09:00.870 sources outline this perfectly jive blocks Big 00:09:00.870 --> 00:09:03.730 Boy's partner, Andre 3000, from appearing anywhere 00:09:03.730 --> 00:09:06.289 on the new Def Jam release. They essentially 00:09:06.289 --> 00:09:08.730 claim that if Def Jam issues any songs featuring 00:09:08.730 --> 00:09:12.490 both Big Boy and Andre 3000, that legally constitutes 00:09:12.490 --> 00:09:15.149 a new outcast record. Which jive owns. Right. 00:09:15.389 --> 00:09:18.909 It is a classic, brutal corporate blockade. They 00:09:18.909 --> 00:09:21.289 were basically trying to strangle Big Boy's project 00:09:21.289 --> 00:09:24.210 in the crib by legally removing its most highly 00:09:24.210 --> 00:09:26.350 anticipated feature. The reunion of the outcast 00:09:26.350 --> 00:09:28.750 members. Exactly. But Big Boy's response to this 00:09:28.750 --> 00:09:31.509 blockade is just brilliant. Oh, it's so good. 00:09:31.769 --> 00:09:35.409 It is the ultimate modern rebellion. When reporters 00:09:35.409 --> 00:09:38.049 asked him about Jive blocking the tracks, Big 00:09:38.049 --> 00:09:40.070 Boy basically just laughed it off. He didn't 00:09:40.070 --> 00:09:43.590 care at all. No. He says, and I quote, the fan's 00:09:43.590 --> 00:09:45.879 thirst will be quenched. You know, I'm no stranger 00:09:45.879 --> 00:09:48.720 to that internet baby. Classic. And then he just 00:09:48.720 --> 00:09:51.600 leaks the block tracks himself. Songs featuring 00:09:51.600 --> 00:09:55.250 Andre 3000, like... royal flesh and looking for 00:09:55.250 --> 00:09:58.149 ya, suddenly just mysteriously find their way 00:09:58.149 --> 00:10:01.129 onto the internet. He completely bypasses the 00:10:01.129 --> 00:10:03.029 corporate gatekeepers. And you have to understand 00:10:03.029 --> 00:10:05.210 the mechanics of this in 2010. Right. It was 00:10:05.210 --> 00:10:07.389 different back then. Yeah. Leaking a track meant 00:10:07.389 --> 00:10:10.350 giving it to high profile music blogs and letting 00:10:10.350 --> 00:10:12.710 peer -to -peer file sharing do the rest. It was 00:10:12.710 --> 00:10:15.370 a whole ecosystem. And right before the album's 00:10:15.370 --> 00:10:17.990 official release, he even dropped a free download 00:10:17.990 --> 00:10:20.820 called Mixed Tape for Dummies. Guide to global 00:10:20.820 --> 00:10:23.080 greatness right on his own website. Just to build 00:10:23.080 --> 00:10:26.580 grassroots hype. Exactly. Anti -piracy companies 00:10:26.580 --> 00:10:28.539 at the time estimated his leaked tracks were 00:10:28.539 --> 00:10:31.600 being illegally downloaded 45 ,000 times a day. 00:10:31.639 --> 00:10:33.960 Which is an incredible metric of success when 00:10:33.960 --> 00:10:36.519 you're actively trying to subvert your old bot. 00:10:36.600 --> 00:10:39.700 But here's the thing. To back up this massive 00:10:39.700 --> 00:10:43.299 level of rebellion, to essentially declare open 00:10:43.299 --> 00:10:46.279 war on your former label and leak your own music, 00:10:47.200 --> 00:10:49.580 You can't just release an okay album. No, the 00:10:49.580 --> 00:10:51.600 stakes are way too high. Great. You can't just 00:10:51.600 --> 00:10:54.139 drop something mediocre or the label looks completely 00:10:54.139 --> 00:10:56.559 justified in dropping you. Yeah. Big Boy had 00:10:56.559 --> 00:10:59.019 to retreat to his fortress and craft something 00:10:59.019 --> 00:11:02.279 undeniably brilliant. And that fortress was Stankonia 00:11:02.279 --> 00:11:05.220 Recording Studio in Atlanta. Yes. Picture yourself 00:11:05.220 --> 00:11:07.519 walking into Stankonia on Martin Luther King 00:11:07.519 --> 00:11:10.179 Jr. Day. Oh, yeah. According to the sources, 00:11:10.500 --> 00:11:13.480 Big Boy always starts working on new albums on 00:11:13.480 --> 00:11:16.720 MLK Day. He considers it a powerful good luck 00:11:16.720 --> 00:11:19.620 charm. And the vibe inside that studio. Yes, 00:11:19.620 --> 00:11:22.080 at the scene. He described it as comfortable, 00:11:22.379 --> 00:11:24.860 but intensely gritty. They had candles burning 00:11:24.860 --> 00:11:27.740 everywhere, deep red lights, crunk juice flowing, 00:11:28.059 --> 00:11:30.259 cigars. Wow. He said the whole environment was 00:11:30.259 --> 00:11:32.259 meticulously designed to get you in a state of 00:11:32.259 --> 00:11:35.059 mind of being raw and ready to kill stuff. And 00:11:35.059 --> 00:11:38.159 you can absolutely hear that. primal, raw environment 00:11:38.159 --> 00:11:40.259 in the sonic architecture of the album. For sure. 00:11:40.500 --> 00:11:43.480 It is a state of the art southern fried party 00:11:43.480 --> 00:11:46.639 funk record. It's heavily rooted in the Roland 00:11:46.639 --> 00:11:50.019 TR -808 drum machine. And for anyone not entirely 00:11:50.019 --> 00:11:53.019 familiar, the 808 isn't just a standard drum 00:11:53.019 --> 00:11:55.360 sound. No, it's way more than that. It produces 00:11:55.360 --> 00:11:58.480 this incredibly deep subsonic bass frequency 00:11:58.480 --> 00:12:01.419 that literally vibrates your chest cavity. But 00:12:01.419 --> 00:12:04.379 he didn't stop at the 808. Big Boy and his producers, 00:12:04.720 --> 00:12:07.220 including Sleepy Brown and the legendary Organized 00:12:07.220 --> 00:12:10.899 Noise, they built these incredibly dense, complex 00:12:10.899 --> 00:12:13.820 layers on top of that base. Yeah, so layered. 00:12:14.029 --> 00:12:16.889 They incorporated live horn sections, guitars, 00:12:17.190 --> 00:12:20.570 rock, soul, and even early elements of dubstep. 00:12:20.730 --> 00:12:23.129 Which, in 2010, was just starting to bring its 00:12:23.129 --> 00:12:26.110 aggressive, wobbly electronic bass lines into 00:12:26.110 --> 00:12:29.149 the mainstream. It is a totally musically omnivorous 00:12:29.149 --> 00:12:31.590 album. Big Boy himself described the voluminous 00:12:31.590 --> 00:12:33.769 production of this album as feeling like someone's 00:12:33.769 --> 00:12:35.769 pushing you around the room. I love that description. 00:12:35.929 --> 00:12:37.750 Right. It's a massive physical sound. You don't 00:12:37.750 --> 00:12:39.350 just hear it through your headphones. It physically 00:12:39.350 --> 00:12:41.809 moves you. But, you know, a massive beat can 00:12:41.809 --> 00:12:44.500 easily drown out a rapper. To anchor a sound 00:12:44.500 --> 00:12:47.200 that big, you need a vocal performance that can 00:12:47.200 --> 00:12:50.059 slice right through the noise. And this is where 00:12:50.059 --> 00:12:52.860 Big Boy's technical mastery really shines. Oh, 00:12:52.860 --> 00:12:55.179 absolutely. He doesn't just rap casually over 00:12:55.179 --> 00:12:57.200 the beat. The critics in our sources noted that 00:12:57.200 --> 00:13:00.000 he uses this relentless double -time flow almost 00:13:00.000 --> 00:13:01.980 regardless of the actual tempo of the track. 00:13:02.159 --> 00:13:04.279 Exactly. To break that down mechanically, if 00:13:04.279 --> 00:13:07.539 the actual beat of the song is walking at a leisurely 00:13:07.539 --> 00:13:11.240 pace of, say, 70 beats per minute, Big Boy is 00:13:11.240 --> 00:13:14.320 vocally sprinting over it. at 140 beats per minute. 00:13:14.360 --> 00:13:16.779 He's packing twice as many syllables into the 00:13:16.779 --> 00:13:20.200 measure. Yeah. The New Yorker's Sasha Frere -Jones 00:13:20.200 --> 00:13:23.539 compared Big Boy's flow to the mechanical clatter 00:13:23.539 --> 00:13:25.820 of a lawnmower. A lawnmower. Yeah, like he puts 00:13:25.820 --> 00:13:29.259 this whispering secondary rhythm underneath the 00:13:29.259 --> 00:13:31.220 main beat. It's like trying to thread a needle 00:13:31.220 --> 00:13:33.500 while riding in a monster truck. That's a great 00:13:33.500 --> 00:13:36.240 way to put it. You have this massive, booming, 00:13:36.600 --> 00:13:39.179 chaotic vehicle of a beat, and yet his vocal 00:13:39.179 --> 00:13:42.220 delivery is this precise, rapid -fire, intricate 00:13:42.220 --> 00:13:44.399 instrument. It never sounds laid back. Never. 00:13:44.600 --> 00:13:47.399 He is wide awake, filling every single microscopic 00:13:47.399 --> 00:13:51.100 pocket of space. And lyrically, he's balancing 00:13:51.100 --> 00:13:53.740 completely opposing forces while he's sprinting. 00:13:53.940 --> 00:13:55.720 What do you mean? Well, Sarah Rodman from the 00:13:55.720 --> 00:13:58.860 Boston Globe called it rhyming about things frivolous 00:13:58.860 --> 00:14:02.159 and fraught. OK. In one breath, he's boasting. 00:14:02.480 --> 00:14:05.899 talking about sex, cars, and the club. And in 00:14:05.899 --> 00:14:08.399 the very next breath, he's dropping serious social 00:14:08.399 --> 00:14:11.779 commentary, political critiques, or even offering 00:14:11.779 --> 00:14:15.000 genuine advice on fiscal responsibility. Fiscal 00:14:15.000 --> 00:14:17.539 responsibility on a rap track? Right. He plays 00:14:17.539 --> 00:14:19.679 the role of the mischievous trickster and the 00:14:19.679 --> 00:14:22.120 wise elder statesman at the exact same time. 00:14:22.190 --> 00:14:26.110 So Big Boy creates this defiant, gritty bunker 00:14:26.110 --> 00:14:28.730 at Stankonia, armed with rapid -fire delivery 00:14:28.730 --> 00:14:31.990 and massive 808s. But I mean, a bunker mentality 00:14:31.990 --> 00:14:34.529 doesn't automatically equal good music. No, it 00:14:34.529 --> 00:14:37.250 could just be a mess. Right. To prove Jive wrong, 00:14:37.470 --> 00:14:39.850 the actual sonic architecture of the individual 00:14:39.850 --> 00:14:42.470 songs had to be flawless. Let's look at how that 00:14:42.470 --> 00:14:44.429 actually manifested in the tracks, starting with 00:14:44.429 --> 00:14:47.129 the lead single, Shutterbug. Oh, Shutterbug is 00:14:47.129 --> 00:14:49.149 the perfect showcase of his creative process. 00:14:49.230 --> 00:14:52.210 Tell us about it. So the producer, Scott Storch, 00:14:52.690 --> 00:14:55.509 initially brought him a preliminary, fairly standard 00:14:55.509 --> 00:14:59.450 hip -hop beat. Now, a lesser artist, or someone 00:14:59.450 --> 00:15:01.610 rushing to meet a label deadline, might have 00:15:01.610 --> 00:15:03.730 just rapped over it and called it a day. But 00:15:03.730 --> 00:15:06.590 Big Boy didn't do that. No. Big Boy said he brought 00:15:06.590 --> 00:15:09.899 in his own live band guitar players, keyboard 00:15:09.899 --> 00:15:12.840 players, and someone on a talkbox. Oh, man, a 00:15:12.840 --> 00:15:15.080 talkbox. And for those listening who might be 00:15:15.080 --> 00:15:18.299 wondering, a talkbox is that device where a musician 00:15:18.299 --> 00:15:20.740 has a plastic tube in their mouth. Yeah. And 00:15:20.740 --> 00:15:22.980 they shape the sound of a synthesizer with their 00:15:22.980 --> 00:15:26.379 vocal cords to create that robotic singing voice. 00:15:26.720 --> 00:15:29.460 Think Daft Punk or Rodder Troutman. Exactly. 00:15:29.580 --> 00:15:32.039 Big Boy said he and the band just pissed on the 00:15:32.039 --> 00:15:34.779 original beat. That's his phrase. Yeah. They 00:15:34.779 --> 00:15:37.799 injected it with incredibly heavy P -Funk elements. 00:15:37.639 --> 00:15:41.259 that woozy, spacey, bass heavy style pioneered 00:15:41.259 --> 00:15:43.539 by Parliament Funkadelic. And they transformed 00:15:43.539 --> 00:15:46.659 it into this jittery, robotic, electro hop anthem. 00:15:46.899 --> 00:15:49.139 It is brilliant. It really is. And then there's 00:15:49.139 --> 00:15:51.860 a track like Tangerine featuring the rapper T 00:15:51.860 --> 00:15:54.600 .I. The sources describe the subject matter as 00:15:54.600 --> 00:15:58.539 a blunt, straightforward strip club anthem. But 00:15:58.539 --> 00:16:01.379 musically, the mechanics of the song are wildly 00:16:01.379 --> 00:16:04.539 sophisticated. Like deceptively complex. Exactly. 00:16:04.730 --> 00:16:07.950 It features exotic afro -polyrhythms, meaning 00:16:07.950 --> 00:16:10.870 multiple contrasting rhythms are playing at the 00:16:10.870 --> 00:16:13.470 exact same time, fighting and harmonizing with 00:16:13.470 --> 00:16:16.169 each other. Add in the booming bass and these 00:16:16.169 --> 00:16:19.269 slow, reverbing, grunge rock guitars. I mean, 00:16:19.429 --> 00:16:21.529 one critic perfectly described it as sounding 00:16:21.529 --> 00:16:24.950 like the famous western film composer Ennio Morricone 00:16:24.950 --> 00:16:27.529 mashed up with Funkadelic. Which is insane. You 00:16:27.529 --> 00:16:30.169 do not hear those two musical ideas put together 00:16:30.169 --> 00:16:32.169 very often, let alone on a strip club anthem. 00:16:32.269 --> 00:16:36.899 No, you don't. Yeah. to the wild, almost chaotic 00:16:36.899 --> 00:16:39.799 variety of guest stars he brought into Stankonia. 00:16:39.980 --> 00:16:42.080 Who else was there? Well, he even attempted to 00:16:42.080 --> 00:16:44.580 get the legendary English Avant Pop singer -songwriter 00:16:44.580 --> 00:16:47.120 Kate Bush on the album. Kate Bush? That would 00:16:47.120 --> 00:16:48.960 have been amazing. Unfortunately, the timing 00:16:48.960 --> 00:16:51.419 didn't work out. But he did manage to get George 00:16:51.419 --> 00:16:54.039 Clinton. The absolute architect and pioneer of 00:16:54.039 --> 00:16:57.779 P -Funk. Yes. For the track Faux Yo Sorrows. 00:16:58.899 --> 00:17:02.080 Big Boy. compared working with Clinton to Dorothy 00:17:02.080 --> 00:17:05.019 finally going to see the Wizard of Oz, getting 00:17:05.019 --> 00:17:07.640 beamed down this extraterrestrial funk. I love 00:17:07.640 --> 00:17:10.079 that. I also really love the detail from the 00:17:10.079 --> 00:17:12.319 sources about the up -and -coming rapper Yellow 00:17:12.319 --> 00:17:14.480 Wolf. Oh, that story's great. Yeah, so Big Boy 00:17:14.480 --> 00:17:16.819 invited him to collaborate, and Yellow Wolf was 00:17:16.819 --> 00:17:19.839 so incredibly excited to be working with an outcast 00:17:19.839 --> 00:17:23.640 legend that he wrote a massive 64 -bar verse 00:17:23.640 --> 00:17:26.259 and turned it in. And to put that in perspective 00:17:26.259 --> 00:17:29.180 for you, a standard rap verse is usually 16 bars. 00:17:28.970 --> 00:17:31.089 Right. Yellow Wolf essentially wrote a short 00:17:31.089 --> 00:17:33.390 novel. He really did. Big Boy had to heavily 00:17:33.390 --> 00:17:35.069 chop it down just to make it fit into the track. 00:17:35.150 --> 00:17:37.190 You ain't no DJ. Yeah, he had edited him down. 00:17:37.529 --> 00:17:39.990 But amid all this serious, dense musicality, 00:17:40.130 --> 00:17:42.930 the album is also just incredibly funny. Right. 00:17:42.930 --> 00:17:45.069 We have to talk about the skits. We do. Skits 00:17:45.069 --> 00:17:47.430 are deeply integrated into the history and culture 00:17:47.430 --> 00:17:49.849 of southern hip hop albums. They act as palate 00:17:49.849 --> 00:17:52.569 cleansers. And Big Boy uses them here to inject 00:17:52.569 --> 00:17:55.990 this playful, almost absurd irreverence into 00:17:55.990 --> 00:17:58.930 the mass of soundscapes. My favorite detail is 00:17:58.930 --> 00:18:01.190 the skit at the end of the marching band heavy 00:18:01.190 --> 00:18:04.809 track, General Patton. Oh boy. Yeah. It features 00:18:04.809 --> 00:18:07.289 a guy named Dax Redneck describing a fictional, 00:18:07.650 --> 00:18:10.910 completely absurd sex maneuver called the David 00:18:10.910 --> 00:18:13.609 Blaine. The David Blaine. Right. We won't go 00:18:13.609 --> 00:18:15.670 into the explicit mechanics of it here, but when 00:18:15.670 --> 00:18:18.250 an interviewer later asked Big Boy if he was 00:18:18.250 --> 00:18:20.930 taking credit for inventing this ridiculous maneuver, 00:18:21.329 --> 00:18:23.609 Big Boy just laughed and confidently said, yeah, 00:18:23.650 --> 00:18:27.569 man, they do it now. It's that exact mix of grand 00:18:27.569 --> 00:18:30.869 ambition and total silliness that ties perfectly 00:18:30.869 --> 00:18:33.319 back to the album's title. which we really should 00:18:33.319 --> 00:18:35.619 decode. Oh, definitely. Sir Lucius Leftfoot, 00:18:36.299 --> 00:18:38.980 the son of Chico Dusty. It's a mouthful. It sounds 00:18:38.980 --> 00:18:41.779 massive, almost like a regal royal decree, but 00:18:41.779 --> 00:18:43.779 every word of it is actually deeply personal. 00:18:43.920 --> 00:18:46.839 I can puzzle out some of this. So Sir Lucius 00:18:46.839 --> 00:18:49.799 is his Jedi mastery, him claiming his crown as 00:18:49.799 --> 00:18:52.259 a solo artist. Exactly. And Big Boy explained 00:18:52.259 --> 00:18:54.700 that the left foot part references the old southern 00:18:54.700 --> 00:18:56.980 slang phrase, get on the good foot, stepping 00:18:56.980 --> 00:18:59.890 out with your best effort. But what about Chico 00:18:59.890 --> 00:19:02.250 Dusty? That sounds like a completely different 00:19:02.250 --> 00:19:05.809 vibe, like a gritty 1970s street moniker. Where 00:19:05.809 --> 00:19:08.130 does that half of the equation come from? You're 00:19:08.130 --> 00:19:10.970 right on the money with the vibe. Chico Dusty 00:19:10.970 --> 00:19:13.950 is actually a tribute to his late father, Tony 00:19:13.950 --> 00:19:17.109 Kearse. Oh, wow. Yeah, that was his father's 00:19:17.109 --> 00:19:19.289 actual nickname while he was serving as a fighter 00:19:19.289 --> 00:19:21.410 pilot in the Air Force and the Marines. That 00:19:21.410 --> 00:19:24.869 is so cool. So the title is this beautiful duality. 00:19:25.069 --> 00:19:28.490 It honors his deep family roots while simultaneously 00:19:28.490 --> 00:19:31.210 claiming his current undeniable mastery of the 00:19:31.210 --> 00:19:34.569 rap genre. It fits perfectly. And, just as a 00:19:34.569 --> 00:19:36.769 quick but very fun point of clarification from 00:19:36.769 --> 00:19:39.910 the source's big boy, is adamant that Lucius 00:19:39.910 --> 00:19:43.500 is pronounced Lu -shus. Not luscious, like voluptuous. 00:19:43.640 --> 00:19:45.319 I just got it. Good to get that right on the 00:19:45.319 --> 00:19:46.839 record. OK, so let's look at the board here. 00:19:47.039 --> 00:19:50.180 We have this deeply personal, wildly experimental 00:19:50.180 --> 00:19:53.559 album full of talk boxes, polyrhythms, and 808s. 00:19:53.579 --> 00:19:56.240 An album that Jive Records, this massive corporate 00:19:56.240 --> 00:19:59.019 entity, thought was an unmarketable disaster. 00:19:59.240 --> 00:20:00.700 They really thought it would flop. They thought 00:20:00.700 --> 00:20:03.119 it was too weird, too dense, and demanded a little 00:20:03.119 --> 00:20:06.339 Wayne clone instead. Yeah. Right. So the big 00:20:06.339 --> 00:20:08.559 question for you, the listener, as this showdown 00:20:08.559 --> 00:20:12.009 comes to an end is, Did the public and the critics 00:20:12.009 --> 00:20:15.869 actually buy into this piece of art? Was Jive 00:20:15.869 --> 00:20:18.430 Records right to be terrified? Well, the short 00:20:18.430 --> 00:20:22.369 answer is Jive was completely, spectacularly, 00:20:22.529 --> 00:20:24.930 historically wrong. I love to hear it. The reception 00:20:24.930 --> 00:20:28.380 wasn't just good. It was a true cultural moment. 00:20:28.740 --> 00:20:30.880 The stats here are the ultimate punchline to 00:20:30.880 --> 00:20:33.259 the label's hubris. Jive thought it wouldn't 00:20:33.259 --> 00:20:36.240 sell. Instead, the album debuted at number three 00:20:36.240 --> 00:20:40.099 on the Billboard 200 chart, moving 62 ,000 copies 00:20:40.099 --> 00:20:43.880 in its very first week in the US alone. And critically, 00:20:44.500 --> 00:20:47.480 it received a score of 90 on Metacritic. which 00:20:47.480 --> 00:20:51.039 indicates universal acclaim. Exactly. Places 00:20:51.039 --> 00:20:53.119 like Pitchfork, Time Magazine, and Rolling Stone 00:20:53.119 --> 00:20:55.220 didn't just give it polite reviews. They put 00:20:55.220 --> 00:20:57.579 it on their lists for the best albums of the 00:20:57.579 --> 00:20:59.859 entire year. And later, they even named it one 00:20:59.859 --> 00:21:01.940 of the best albums of the entire decade. And 00:21:01.940 --> 00:21:03.940 the marketing around it ended up being brilliant, 00:21:04.099 --> 00:21:06.140 precisely because it wasn't a standard cookie 00:21:06.140 --> 00:21:08.720 -cutter rollout dictated by a spreadsheet. Yeah, 00:21:08.779 --> 00:21:11.210 tell them about the shoes. Converse even partnered 00:21:11.210 --> 00:21:13.970 with Big Boy to produce a limited edition run 00:21:13.970 --> 00:21:17.509 of Chuck Taylor All Stars. The shoes had the 00:21:17.509 --> 00:21:19.769 album title printed right around the heel. That 00:21:19.769 --> 00:21:22.690 is so smart. Imagine that the label said no one 00:21:22.690 --> 00:21:25.430 would understand the vision and instead kids 00:21:25.430 --> 00:21:28.109 are walking down the street with Solution's left 00:21:28.109 --> 00:21:30.849 foot literally on their heels. Big Boy didn't 00:21:30.849 --> 00:21:33.450 just win the artistic battle, he won the commercial 00:21:33.450 --> 00:21:36.289 war too. It's the ultimate vindication. You have 00:21:36.289 --> 00:21:38.750 this artist who was told his vision wasn't good 00:21:38.750 --> 00:21:41.089 enough, that he needed to shrink himself down 00:21:41.089 --> 00:21:43.269 to sound like someone else, just to appease a 00:21:43.269 --> 00:21:45.750 panicked boardroom. Yeah. And his response was 00:21:45.750 --> 00:21:48.609 to retreat to his studio, trust his own mastery, 00:21:48.890 --> 00:21:50.910 trust that his audience was smart enough to follow 00:21:50.910 --> 00:21:53.950 him, and physically force the industry to catch 00:21:53.950 --> 00:21:57.190 up to his sound. He didn't blink. Never. The 00:21:57.190 --> 00:21:59.450 takeaway here is that true artistry isn't just 00:21:59.450 --> 00:22:02.549 about having good ideas. Sometimes it requires 00:22:02.549 --> 00:22:05.089 fiercely defending your vision, even if that 00:22:05.089 --> 00:22:07.549 means walking away from a major corporate machine 00:22:07.549 --> 00:22:10.430 and building a new path yourself. This raises 00:22:10.430 --> 00:22:12.910 an important question though, especially when 00:22:12.910 --> 00:22:15.789 we consider the legacy of how Big Boy used the 00:22:15.789 --> 00:22:19.049 internet to bypass Jive's blockade and leak his 00:22:19.049 --> 00:22:21.779 own tracks. What's that? Well... It makes you 00:22:21.779 --> 00:22:23.839 wonder, now that the internet has made distribution 00:22:23.839 --> 00:22:26.700 practically free, the modern artist doesn't really 00:22:26.700 --> 00:22:28.859 need a major label's money just to release a 00:22:28.859 --> 00:22:31.140 song to the public. Right. Anyone can upload 00:22:31.140 --> 00:22:34.539 a track. Exactly. But looking at Big Boy retreating 00:22:34.539 --> 00:22:37.140 to Sanconia, bringing in live horn sections, 00:22:37.339 --> 00:22:40.200 talk boxes, and building these massive, complex 00:22:40.200 --> 00:22:43.880 sonic architectures, do artists today still need 00:22:43.880 --> 00:22:46.259 a label's money to actually make a masterpiece? 00:22:46.859 --> 00:22:49.799 Wow. That is exactly what we want you to mull 00:22:49.799 --> 00:22:53.059 over. The distribution might be free, but creating 00:22:53.059 --> 00:22:55.299 a world like Stankonia certainly isn't. Nope. 00:22:55.640 --> 00:22:57.500 Because when you throw a relentlessly creative 00:22:57.500 --> 00:23:00.180 human into a perfectly predictable machine, well, 00:23:00.259 --> 00:23:01.859 the machine doesn't always win. Definitely not. 00:23:02.200 --> 00:23:05.059 Sometimes the artist just dismantles the machine 00:23:05.059 --> 00:23:07.140 from the inside out and rewrites the algorithm 00:23:07.140 --> 00:23:09.140 themselves. Couldn't have said it better. Thanks 00:23:09.140 --> 00:23:11.160 for diving deep with us today. Keep questioning 00:23:11.160 --> 00:23:11.960 the assembly line.